Elementary Turkish

Lewis Thomas

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486250649
• eBook ISBN: 9780486121758
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Turkish is the primary language of some thirty million people. Anyone concerned with current social, political, and cultural developments in Turkey knows that a practical understanding of the basic patterns of modern Turkish is an invaluable skill that until now has been difficult to attain without extensive training.
This superb grammar and exercise text, used successfully for years in Princeton University, enables English-speaking students — in and out of the classroom — to gain a quick and thorough understanding of modern Turkish. In a carefully arranged sequence of 23 lessons, Lewis V. Thomas, late Professor of Oriental Studies at Princeton, presents thorough coverage that allows the student to begin to use the basic patterns of modern Turkish without time-consuming and expensive private instruction.
The method of instruction was devised after an extensive analysis of results in Princeton classrooms, and relies on exercises at the end of each lesson to test the student's grasp of the material. Beginning with the alphabet and numbers, Professor Thomas offers clear, concise coverage of articles, adjectives and nouns, common infinitives, personal pronouns, and elementary verbs. As the student's comprehension of basic elements develops, further lessons deal with more complicated subjects such as the possessive construction, past general verbs, postpositions, the partitive, progressive verb forms, and abbreviating verb forms. A complete Turkish-English glossary translates new vocabulary occurring in the exercises.
Norman Itzkowitz, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, has skillfully made the necessary revisions and additions to complete Professor Thomas' work. For anyone who needs to communicate in this important and influential language, Professor Thomas' proven course, now in an inexpensive paperback edition, is the most effective method available.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Dedication
• Editor’s Note
• Perface
• Contents
• 1 The Alphabet. ‘Soft g.’ Doubled Consonants. The Circumflex Accent. Spelling. Syllabification. Punctuation
• 2 Cardinal Numbers. ‘One Half.’ Kaç, çok, and Az. Parça and Tane
• 3 Position of Adjectives. Indefinite Article with Adjectives. Predicate Modifiers
• 4 Definite Article. Adjective and Noun. Agglutination. Vowel Harmony. The Plural
• 5 Common Infinitive. Variable Consonants. Past Definite Verb. Agreement of Subject and Verb
• 6 Verbs of the Type Gitmek (Gider). The Objective Definite. Variable Consonants Followed by Objective Definite. Doubled Consonants Followed by Objective Definite. ‘Ayn Followed by Objective Definite. Final k Followed by Objective Definite. Nouns of the Type Ogul Followed by Objective Definite
• 7 Personal Pronouns. Interrogative Pronouns. Demonstratives. The Imperative. Word Order
• 8 Nere*, Burn*, Ora*. Dative Suffix -(y) V2. Locative Suffix -t/d V2. Ablative Suffix -t/d V2n. Dative, Locative, and Ablative Forms of Nere*, Bura*, Ora*, the Personal Pronouns, the Interrogatives, and the Demonstratives. Fractions. Calendar. The Word d V2
• 9 Negative Verb. Interrogative Particle (m V4). Negative Interroga-tive. Negative Expressions
• 10 The Possessive Construction. Possessive Definite Suffix -(n) V4 n. Possessive Suffixes. The Possessive Construction, Types I and II. Personal Pronouns as Members of Possessive Constructions. Possessive Complexes. The Word Sahip in Possessive Constructions. Suffixes added to a Possessive Suffix. Kendi
• 11 Infinitives. General Verbs
• 12 Past General Verbs. Future Verbs. Adverbs. Comparison. Emphatics. The Suffix -ç/c V2
• 13 Postpositions. Expressions of Location
• 14 The Verb ‘to Be.’ Var and yok. The Resumptive Question
• 15 The Suffixes -l V4, -s V4 z, and -l V4 k. Past Indefinite, Past Narrative, and Past Perfect Verb Forms
• 16 The Partitive. Participles. Gerund -t/d V4 k. Indirect Discourse. Relative Gerundive and Adverb
• 17 -ki. Ki. Çünkü. The Professional Doer. The Habitual Doer. Diminutives. Noun of Manner
• 18 Progressive Verb Forms. Common Infinitive plus the Locative with ‘to Be.’ Ordinals and Distributives. Gerundive in -(y) V2
• 19 ‘To Be Able’
• 20 Auxiliary Verb. Optative-Subjunctive. Necessity. Condition
• 21 Passive Verbs. The Agent. Causative, Reflexive, and Mutual Verbs
• 22 Abbreviating Verb Forms. Attendant Circumstances. Verb Form in -(y) V4 n c V2. Verb Form in -t/d V4 k ç V2
• 23 Statement on Verb Forms. True and Untrue Conditions
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• VOCABULARY